How far would you be willing to go in order to avoid roaming charges from your cellular provider? For one guy, an elaborate DIY button-pushing machine didn't seem like it was overkill.

You see, Mok Young Bacq works for a mobile game monitoring service and—as part of his job—occasionally has to carry out a number of actions from three cellphones. That job requirement wouldn't be a big deal if Bacq didn't like to travel so much that he couldn't keep up with the roaming charges.

His solution? An insanely elaborate DIY machine connected to a computer. All Bacq has to do is log on occasionally and make sure that everything is running smoothly:

This interface method uses a camera to look at each phone. It's hung pointing downward and moves like a pendulum to look at one of the three screens at a time. Each phone has one servo motor for each button, which uses a flexible cable as an actuator. Now he can take trips abroad, just checking in over the Internet for his two 17-hour weekend shifts (10am to 3am the next morning) working the phones.

Nuts? Probably, but at least the man gets to enjoy his travels without fretting about a phone bill. [Hack A Day via SlashGear]

Whoops! Looks like we already posted about this fellow. Sorry about the repeat, folks.